Maximum Security
Maximum Security is the third novel in the CHERUB series of books, written by Robert Muchamore. In this novel CHERUB agents James Adams and Dave Moss infiltrate a maximum security prison in Arizona to get to the son of an international arms dealer. Plot Lauren completes basic training successfully, to the displeasure of the sadistic Norman Large, whom Lauren injured with a shovel in the previous novel. James and his friends get into a brawl at a bowling alley with a group of chavs after one of them racially abuses Gabrielle. As punishment, James, Kyle, Gabrielle and twins Connor and Callum are each given a recruitment mission. Much to his delight, James is instead offered a role on a major mission. He is joined by Dave Moss, a well respected CHERUB agent with a reputation for womanising, and Lauren. The FBI have discovered that Curtis Key, a 14-year-old boy imprisoned in an Arizona maximum security prison for murder, is the son of Jane Oxford, an international arms dealer who has evaded capture for decades. Recently, she has stolen 35 PGSLM Missiles, which were supposed to be sent to the British Army. With the help of the FBI, James and Dave go undercover into the prison posing as brothers who accidentally ran over a homeless woman in their getaway car, with the intention of breaking Curtis out in the hope that he will lead the FBI to his mother. James soon befriends Curtis and a gang of skinheads who are protecting him in prison, but within days of arriving Dave is injured in an altercation with prison officers, leaving James the responsibility of breaking Curtis out. The escape goes smoothly and Curtis and James are picked up by Lauren, posing as James and Dave's sister. The three are stopped by police officers and Curtis attempts to kill himself with an unloaded gun, but James and Lauren overpower the officers. They kidnap a woman and force her to drive them to Los Angeles. Upon arrival, Curtis contacts his father, a major breakthrough as the FBI did not know who he was previously. The trio are taken to a ranch in Idaho to stay with Vaughn Little, a former weapons dealer and associate of Jane Oxford. From there they are taken to Boise, Idaho, where two of Jane Oxford's henchmen give the three new identities. The henchmen explain that Curtis will travel to Brazil while James and Lauren will be given a new life in Canada. However, after Curtis leaves for the airport, Lauren is attacked by one of the henchmen, who tries to smother her with a pillow. She fights back and overpowers him by stabbing him in the neck with a Biro. The FBI follow Curtis, and discover Jane has come for him in person. They capture her, concluding the mission as a success. James, Dave (still recovering from his injuries), and Lauren return home to CHERUB campus. James returns to his room after a day's lessons and discovers a box on his pillow, containing an Intelligence Star with his name engraved on the back.